Heretofore, tape players for use as recording, reproducing, and recording/reproducing apparatus have a plurality of guide rollers which can be moved in certain directions to effect a tape loading operation by pulling a predetermined length of tape from a tape cassette and winding the tape around a rotary head cylinder and a tape unloading operation by rewinding and storing the drawn tape into the tape cassette. The guide rollers are moved by drive forces produced by a motor. Rotation of hub drive shafts for rewinding the tape in the tape unloading operation is also caused by drive forces of the motor.
Since the tape loading and unloading operations of the conventional tape players are carried out by the drive forces of the motor, the tape players have a large number of constituent parts, are complex in structure, difficult to be reduced in size, highly costly, and have a high power requirement.